BB18: HoH Comp Completion, Nominations Show Blog Party - September 11, 2016

Hamster watchers ready?! Who will rule the slip and slide?

As the show airs here on the East Coast, I'll be constantly updating this entry. Refresh the page to get the latest news! As always, the real party is in the comments area!

But first ... we have to sit through "previously on Big Brother."

Okay, we pick up on the slip and slide HoH comp! Paul and Victor are still thinking their final four with Nicole and Corey might keep them safe. Victor can't compete in the comp as the outgoing HoH. Nicole tells us it might be best to get either Paul or Victor out this week. In a clip, Corey tells James they have his back. He then talks to Nicole about it. Then both talk to James.

Uh-oh -- Victor and Paul need to watch their backs! 

These slip and slide comps always have plenty of funny falls. I wouldn't want to be the one falling, though. Nicole is going for the smaller container to get the big scoop. Corey is in the lead with the big container. James is in second. Paul isn't doing well at all. 

Nicole gets the big scoop. Paul is still trying to go for the big scoop. They edited this to make it seem like he was closer to Nicole than he actually was. Corey is doing the comp amazingly fast. 

Corey wins HoH! 

Paul and Victor are pretty confident that they'll be safe this week even though one would have to go up as a pawn with James. 

Victor says it's great to finally have an alliance that wins and keeps their word.
:X

Into a segment about how James and Natalie patched things up before the live show. He apologizes to her for the things he said. She hides under a blanket. She still claims she never threw him under the bus, but if she did, she apologizes. Say what?

A Corey on Nicole salty water prank bit, then onto the HoH room reveal. He got Taylor Swift music, not surprising at all.   

Corey and Nicole talk. Corey wants to put Paul and Victor on the block, Victor the target.  

Paul is starting to worry about "sneaky" James getting in Corey's ear. Too late and James didn't need to get in Corey's ear anyway! Paul offers to go up as a pawn against James. Heh.

They're editing the show like there might be doubts about the nominations.

Corey goes on an anxiety-driven cleaning jag.

It's time for the nominations ceremony!

Corey nominates Victor and Paul. He tells them that strategically it's not in his best interest to put James up. If one was up, they could win veto and he'd have to put Nicole up. Victor and Paul took it okay on the surface.     

Victor tells us how betrayed he is.

I say, hey ... it's Big Brother. Trust no one.  

Remember -- the next episode is TUESDAY AT 8PM ET/PT this week! 

Off Topic: That Was the Week It Was - September 11, 2016

Good morning! Since it's Sunday morning, it's time for my weekly off television topic reflection on the week gone by in both words and photographs I've taken along the way. If you're here for Big Brother news, everything I have for you can be found at this link. I'll be posting another live feeds report late tonight as well as live-blogging the aired show. But this ain't that. This post is a year-round regular "feature" while Big Brother is a summer obsession. Or, something like that.

That said, this week's off topic post is a bit abbreviated for a few different reasons. First off, today is the 15th anniversary of the 9/11 attacks. That struck this area, the NYC Greater Metropolitan Area, quite hard. Many folks here work in Manhattan. Several people in the local area died in the attacks. My company lost seven people on one of the planes. It's a somber day and we'll never forget.

Also, my sprained ankle and the heat factor this week limited my desire to take photos although I did work this past week. I'll include a few of those in next week's off topic photo post.  

911 Memorial, Scotch Plains, NJ

September 12 is Vincent's "birthday"

On September 12, 2009, I went into the city to New York City Animal Care and Control (NYCACC), the shelter system which handles all the strays, abandoned, etc., animals in all five boroughs of the city. I went to the East Harlem (AKA Spanish Harlem) location and met a cat they called "Sal." Unfortunately, due to volume, the shelter system is a fairly high kill one. People want kittens. I wanted a cat. Sal, whom I decided wasn't a pizza delivery guy, I renamed Vincent. He was due to be euthanized the next week because he was a cat, not a kitten. When I opened his cage door, he leaped on my shoulder and purred so loud I could hear him over the cacophony of dogs barking and busy street traffic. He was the one and he's been my best friend ever since. This is a shot of him on the train home on adoption day.

Good food, good company

I went to a big backyard cookout with friends yesterday. The food was amazing! The company was great and a good time was had by all.

BB18: Live Feeds into Sunday - September 11

I have a few days left

Here's the latest from inside that Big Brother House of Dwindling Days and Deflated Egos:

• With Nicole winning the Power of Veto, Victor sees the writing on the wall.
• He's expecting to be evicted for the third and last time this week.
• Paul is a bit resigned that he'll be following Victor out of the house. 
• Oh, he's asking a lot of questions and plans to study for a mental HoH, but much of his bravado about how he and Victor are ruling the game has ended.
• He knows that, without Victor, he's not horrible in most comps (except the slip and slide!). But he's not the competition beast kind of guy. He's more the guy who stands behind the competition beast kind of guy.
• Victor and Paul, in a talk with each other, spoke of the good run they've had in the house.
• Victor, in particular, is proud of his integrity and loyalty.
• I would guess that would make his parents proud. His potty mouth might be another matter.
• But we ... the constant audience for the hamsters ... know that integrity and honestly don't get you far in the game of Big Brother.
• Loyalty, on the other hand, is indeed a good thing in the game. But it's the loyalty between a few people from the start that seems to work best. Think of Danielle and Jason. Think of Derrick and Cody. When hamsters allow the flip-flopping alliances with the weekly power that be, it's not a good thing. Victor and Paul were loyal to each other, but they flip-flopped with the powers. Would they have made it to the end as a lone wolf duo? I don't know.
• I'm kind of surprised that neither Paul nor Victor are trying to convince Nicole to save one of them. But that would be futile. Whichever one saved if James went up ... the other one would go home.
• I think we're in for doldrums this coming week because Victor and Paul are accepting their fates so peacefully and everybody is in the "we're all friends and it's a game" mode.
• About the only excitement would be if Paul manages to win the upcoming HoH or veto.
• Otherwise, we're going to be on auto-pilot.
• You can unbuckle your seatbelts and return your seats to recline. 

Nine days and one wake-up left!

I'm an a__hole. I know it.

That bun always looks like a rat's nest!

BB18: Live Feeds into Saturday Night, Power of Veto - September 10

Has Corey given up Nicole for Victor?

Here's the latest from inside that Big Brother House of Stuporheroes:

• I was out tonight. Uh-oh!
• So, this will be rather short and sweet.
• The Power of Veto comp was the comic book one.
• And, Nicole won the Power of Veto!
• It sounds like James did the worst of the bunch.
• Victor is sure that he's going to be the one sent packing.
• And, that's probably true.
• Paul wants to study hard for HoH because he knows he's on the real short list.
• Everybody is getting along and friendly.

I love the HoH pillowcases with his dog pics!

Coreeeee!

Now Victor has gone to Nicole!

BB18: Live Feeds into Saturday - September 10

Why do guys do that with their hair?!?

Here's the latest from inside that Big Brother House of Vindictive Voles:

• Okay, they're hamsters, not voles. But hamster doesn't begin with a "v." Voles are rodents, so it's all the same family!
• Although, for all of Paul's pacing about after the nominations went down ... after all of Victor's "you betrayed me, we can't be friends in the house" proclaiming ... the boys took a nap and woke up friendly with all once again.
• Sigh.
• Boredom.
• It seems that the deck of cards went the way of the dominoes -- a BB ghost must have stolen them.
• They're locked inside while the PoV comp set-up is being built in the yard.
• All they have to do with themselves is talk, eat and sleep.
• I think, between the two nominees, Victor is pretty certain he'll probably win PoV later today and save himself while Paul is resigned that he will probably be evicted if that's the case.
• But he never cared. His life is tight, y'know. He has his wealthy parents, his world travels, his extensive life experiences and education. 
• I have to wonder what that would have been like back when I was a child of 22. Maybe I'd be smug and arrogant, as well.
• All of the hamsters, on the block or not, are wearing down as we get to the countdown to the end. So am I. I've gotten to the point where I'm irked at such things as Victor's annoying laugh or Corey's silly way of making his hair into a boy's faux-hawk.
• Don't even get me going on Nicole's voice! 
• Remember the days when the Have Nots had PB&J instead of slop? That's a popular late night snack in the house these days when they don't HAVE to have it.
• All of the hamsters settled into an amicable pattern without any full-blown tantrums, screaming, fisticuffs, kerfuffles or brouhahas.
• I'm disappointed.
• James and Nicole retired to their separate rooms early while Corey, Paul and Victor small-talked.
• Gah. Nothing to see here.
• It will be interesting to see who wins the PoV. 
• If Nicole, Corey or James win it, chances are that it won't be used.
• If Victor and Paul remain on the block, will they campaign against each other?
• Hmm. 

Reluctant acceptance of their fates

They like PB&J - never eat slop as a snack!

Jamesy lives on!

I used to suck my finger when I was five

Yes, you are making me yawn.